Chamber hosts Barickman

Tuesday

Apr 23, 2013 at 12:40 PMApr 23, 2013 at 12:42 PM

Cynthia Grau

The Pontiac Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a noon luncheon with State Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington, who brought along an Edgar Fellow from Chicago to try to bridge the gap between Chicago and Central Illinois.Representative Christian Mitchell, D-Chicago, and Barickman met as part of the inaugural class of Edgar Fellows, a group organized by former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar, in 2012. Barickman has been working on “bridging the gap” for about least a year, bringing Chicago alderman, Ameya Pawar, previously for the same purpose.The pair, who are in their freshmen terms of their respective positions, took questions and comments from the crowd that gathered at the former Bank of Pontiac branch on Oak Street at noon on Monday.“Why I thought it was important to bring Representative Mitchell here is because it ties to what I feel like my role in Springfield is for you in representing you,” Barickman said.“We all understand that there’s going to be differences. We’re going to agree and disagree on different issues, and by bringing someone like Christian to Central Illinois, I’m certain that there are a number of things that we could tell off the top of the list that we’re going to disagree about,” Barickman stated. “What’s important is that we’re building a relationship and we need to work together to find those areas where we can agree.”Mitchell said he represents the southeast side of Chicago, which covers some of the richest and some of the poorest neighborhoods. The audience was active, quizzing the pair about things from gun control to welfare reform, as well as budgetary issues.One person asked about all the budget cuts to education this year, which includes transportation.“Education funding has continually been decreased and that’s happening in a dramatic effect to all of our schools, but it’s really hitting some of our rural schools the hardest,” Barickman said. He added that the state has been looking at specific parts of the budget to see where the money for education is going.Mitchell said that education should be the great equalizer, but since more affluent communities get more money for schools and poorer communities get less, it’s not working that way and the format needs to be revisited.One person commented that seeing Barickman and Mitchell working together in this way, without arguing, that there may be some hope for the state of Illinois.“I don’t want to see the state of Illinois bankrupt and see payroll checks bounce,” said an audience member. “As a small business owner, I refuse to quote on government work in this state. I don’t want to be working in the state of Illinois. The reason is I might not get paid and if I got a check, it might bounce.”He continued, “I think the way you’re talking about these things is great and I think we all need to do that. Any subject is open. Come on, folks, you need to get real about some of these things.”Another person posed a question about drug testing people before they are able to receive welfare, which some states have already been trying.Mitchell said that Florida, specifically, had done that, but found that the cost of testing everyone was higher than the cost of supporting someone that failed the tests. He said it’s worth looking into and discussing further, though.Second amendment discussions were raised and it was pointed out that Illinois is still the only state in the Union that doesn’t allow some sort of concealed carry law currently, although there will be one before the middle of June. Just how that law will be stated is still up in the air.“There’s no doubt that we’re going to have a knock down, drag out fight, politically speaking, in Springfield over what the law looks like. It’s too soon to say what it will look like and at the end of the day, we may be on opposing ends of that rope,” Barickman stated. “What we owe to all of you is to be reasonable on how to approach this and recognizing that we’re going to pass some law that permits concealed carry in a way that doesn’t today.”Mitchell said that downstate Illinois sees gun laws differently than those in Chicago do. He said there is a lot of respect for weapons downstate and understands that part of the state’s point of view. For some in the Chicago area, there is a lot of gang violence as well as gun violence. “The first thing people say is that Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation. Why aren’t they working? They clearly don’t work. Let’s give more people a chance to protect themselves with a gun,” Mitchell said of comments that are made to him.He continued, adding that it’s important to talk about the debate because it’s important to respect regional differences. The pair made several stops throughout Barickman’s district after they left Pontiac to hold similar question and answer sessions with business owners and private citizens alike.

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